Colin Russell reunited with Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise

Later this morning, radio operator Colin Russell will say goodbye to his family like he has regularly over the past 15 years, working three months on-three months off for Greenpeace campaigning somewhere on the high seas.

But this farewell will be different, and also a somewhat anxious time.

Because tomorrow in Amsterdam, Colin Russell will see the Greenpeace vessel the Arctic Sunrise for the first time since September last year when it was raided and illegally seized by Russian authorities in the Arctic.

The 30 Greenpeace crew and supporters had been protesting in international waters about Russian oil drilling in the Pechora Sea. They were all arrested and charged with piracy. Colin Russell then spent 100 days in a Russian gaol he says reminded him of the Dark Ages.

But pardoned without trial last December, in some ways he found it just as hard adjusting to life back home in Tasmania.